Advanced materials are of increasing importance in the clean deals being done by a widening group of corporate venturing units. Once the domain of oil and chemicals, other industries have increased their venture activities in advanced materials over the last few years.

This deepening and widening of the pool of corporate venture capital available to advanced materials startups is set to continue as several industries require the benefits that advanced materials offer. For example, “light-weighting” (making materials lighter without compromising on strength) is…